Fears that the boom in British car manufacturing would be derailed by Brexit failed to sway voters in the UK’s main production centres.

From Sunderland to Luton, Solihull in the Midlands and Bridgend in Wales, where thousands of automotive jobs are based, the electorate voted to leave the EU despite the warnings of union bosses, manufacturers and industry bodies.

Sunderland, home to Nissan – which has 8,000 staff and last year exported 80 per cent of the 475,000 vehicles it made – voted to leave by 61.3 per cent.

Production line: Nissan in Sunderland, which voted to leave

Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said earlier this year: ‘Our preference as a business is, of course, that the UK stays within Europe, it makes the most sense for jobs, trade and costs.’

Similarly, in Vauxhall’s bases of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and Luton, the vote to leave was 50.7 per cent and 56.5 respectively. In Solihull, where Jaguar Land Rover employs 6,000, 56.2 per cent voted to leave.

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Rory Harvey, Vauxhall’s managing director and chairman, had earlier said: ‘We believe not to be part of the EU would be undesirable for our business and the sector.’

Britain is the fourth biggest market for Vauxhall’s owner General Motors, with 35,000 staff in the UK.

Its Ellesmere Port plant produces more than 180,000 Astras a year, 52,000 of which are sold in the UK. Ford, which employs 14,000 in Britain, said it ‘will take whatever action is needed to ensure that our European business remains competitive’ leading to fears of job cuts at Bridgend, Dagenham in London and Halewood, near Liverpool.

Japanese firm Toyota, which makes cars in Derby, said it would ‘closely monitor and analyse the impact on our business operations in the UK’. In South Derbyshire 60.4 per cent voted to leave the EU.

Industry body The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders found in March that 77 per cent of members said a remain vote would be best for their business, with chief executive Mike Hawes saying: ‘The message from UK automotive is clear – being in Europe is vital for the future of this industry to secure jobs, investment and growth.’

On Friday Hawes told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We all recognise that people, in making their minds up on how to vote, looked at a whole range of issues. Other social and political issues such as immigration seem to be high on people’s minds, people would have taken all those issues into consideration and reached their own conclusion. That’s democracy.

‘I think our position was very clear – our poll showed 77 per cent wanted to remain, and informed their staff on the business angle – but there are broader issues at stake and you don’t want to dictate how individuals should vote.’

Last week Len McCluskey, general secretary of Britain’s largest trade union Unite, warned leaving the EU would be ‘a terrible gamble with people’s jobs’, putting skills and investment in jeopardy.

Reacting to the vote on Friday, McCluskey said: ‘This campaign has uncovered real despair in many of our communities.

‘Too many feel that they have been abandoned by a political class that is not interested in their concerns and has imposed upon them an endless, grotesque austerity programme.’

Britain’s £70billion-a-year car industry has been booming with UK sales hitting a record 2.6million vehicles last year. The industry is a major contributor to Britain’s balance of payments, bringing in £15.5billion annually with 80 per cent of the 1.6million cars made in the UK last year destined for export. Some 588,024 cars have been built so far this year – a 10.8 per cent rise on the same period last year.

One area that bucked the trend was Oxford, where Minis are assembled, voting 70.3 per cent to remain.